The Invisible Massacre : Summary of the Report

By combining international research with 38 internal documents provided by EDF, we have shed light on an invisible catastrophe : the impact of nuclear power on aquatic biodiversity. Don’t have time to read our full report ? Check out the summary !

Every minute, an open-circuit nuclear power plant pumps the equivalent of an Olympic-sized swimming pool of water for cooling. The intake structures suck up all the aquatic life in the water at high speed : animals become trapped and may die from the impact, from suffocation once exposed to the open air, from changes in temperature or pressure, or from treatment with bleach.

We have identified more than 100 different species trapped by French power plants. It represents 5.9 billion victims sucked in each year in France. The invisibility of the aquatic environment hides the consequences of the deaths of billions of individuals.

The Silent Sea : A Statistical Massacre

The water intake is taking place against a backdrop that is already dire for aquatic wildlife :

• Since 1970, migratory fish populations have declined by 81% worldwide ;
• In France, the billions of fish affected by nuclear power plants must also contend with various forms of pollution and climate change. This is pushing ecosystems toward a point of no return.

“Biological impingements at water intakes constitute a chronic problem.” — Environmental Authority

Protecting Life : Double Standards

While even the smallest development project is now subject to strict environmental regulations, the nuclear industry operates unchecked, undisturbed by the aquatic devastation it causes. EDF is not required to monitor the species—protected or otherwise—that fall victim to its water intakes. What is even more concerning is that virtually all power plants are exempt from the requirement to apply the “Avoid, Reduce, Compensate” (ARC) framework, which was designed to limit impacts on biodiversity.

This impunity is all the more striking given that French power plants cause the most casualties worldwide.

“Nukespeak” or the Art of Concealing the Massacre

To sidestep the issue of environmental responsibility, the nuclear industry employs a striking semantic reversal.

In its documents, EDF refers to schools of fish or jellyfish as “aggressors” whenever they risk blocking water intakes. Through this linguistic shift, the reactor becomes the entity to be protected against nature that has turned hostile, obscuring the fact that it is the power plant itself that sucks in and destroys living creatures.

EDF never speaks of “mortality,” but rather of “entrainment” or “impingement” The accumulation of individuals on the filters is simply described as “clogging.” The use of clinical and technical terms erases the notion of animal suffering.

To downplay the scale of the disaster, EDF prefers to express the impact in metric tons rather than in the number of individuals. This method renders the most numerous victims invisible : eggs, larvae, and juveniles, which weigh less than an adult specimen. By announcing a removal of 279 metric tons per year from the existing Penly power plant, the operator obscures the fact that this figure actually represents 1 billion living beings.

Beneath the surface, sentient beings that feel pain

Long viewed as biological automatons (Descartes’ “animal machine” theory), fish are now recognised by the scientific community as beings with a rich inner life. They possess nociceptors—sensory receptors that allow them to feel real physical pain. In addition to this physical pain, fish experience fear and anxiety. Cephalopods and crustaceans, which are also victims, are now officially recognised as beings conscious of their own lives.